Persona Destiny
by werepyre Zeke
Summary: What is a soul? Marcus Darkeyes neither knows nor cares. He just wants to get through highschool - and its only a few months until graduation. Too bad fate has other plans. When people start going missing in droves and a suicide epidemic sweeps through his town, Marcus and his closest friends - be it by chance or by design- are the only ones who can stop the madness.
Chapter One: The Contract

Mysterious music plays from nowhere, a piano sounding out a haunting and somehow familiar sounding tune. A young man sitting in a deep red chair stirred, groggily blinking as if he had just awoken from a deep slumber. He became vaguely aware of two figures sitting on a crimson couch across from him. One was a young woman with short, crimson hair, wearing a pitch black dress that would not have looked out of place at an awards ceremony. The other was a man with arms that seemed somehow just slightly too thin for a man his size, pointed ears, an enormous nose and disturbingly bloodshot eyes.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," the strange man called. "I am Igor, and this is Sheila, my assistant. Normally only those who've signed a contract can enter this place." He chuckled softly. "You have a very interesting destiny, it would seem. Your life is about to change forever, starting here, with this contract. By signing this you are agreeing to accept responsibility for your actions – and their consequences." A piece of paper appeared, and it seemed to float before him, covered in elegantly penned cursive writing. At the bottom, as one would expect from a contract, was a long black line with an 'x' at the end. Raising a quill he hadn't realized he was holding, the young man signed his name without hesitation.

 _Marcus Darkeyes_

"Marcus Darkeyes. MARCUS DARKEYES!" He woke with a start, bolting upright at the sound of the furious voice. His 9th period teacher, Mrs. Sonarus, was staring at him with steely eyes. Her son, Dirin, was shaking his head sadly in the seat just to his right. "I recommend pillows over keyboards, when it comes time to rest your head," she said in a voice much calmer than he had been expecting. In fact, she sounded almost amused as she chided him- or at least, more amused than the handful of students that chuckled feebly at her weak attempt at humor. Before she could say anything further, however the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Sighing, the dark haired woman shook her head. "Try to not fall asleep in class tomorrow," She called as he bolted towards the door, Dirin close behind him.

"Damnit, Dirin," Marcus muttered as they ran through the busy halls to their lockers, "why didn't you wake me up?" His friend scowled in response. "Don't you think I tried? You've always been hard to wake up but _damn_ did you go to extremes today. I _hit you with my textbook_ and you just kept snoring!" They slowed down, rounding the final corner and strolling over to their lockers. Marcus frowned as he entered his combination. "You're kidding, right?" he said, somewhat concerned. "About what?" Dirin asked.

"I DON'T snore. And NOBODY could sleep through a smack from one of _these!_ " Grunting, Marcus emptied his bag of all textbooks and grabbed his 3ds charging cord. After all, he reasoned, he shouldn't leave behind anything he might actually NEED. Dirin shook his head, chuckling as he followed suit. "You were out cold, man. What the hell did you do last night?" "Probably more than you. I have a life. Marcus said glibly as they closed their lockers in unison. Shaking his head in an attempt to forget the strange dream he'd just had, he smirked. "Now focus on the task at hand. Where were we supposed to meet Zarame?"

"He said he'd be at our table at the diner- you know, the super cheap one with a generic name? Said he had a game plan for tomorrow's raid, wanted to run it by us in person." Dirin shrugged, turning his 3ds on and not even pretending to pay attention to where he was walking. "Don't know why he's so insistent on meeting up in RL," he said, now thoroughly distracted. "I mean, we all have Skype, right?" Marcus chuckled as his own game system sprang to life with a tone. "Like I said before, not all of us share your obsessions. SOME of us need fresh air and food other than ramen to keep going."

"BLASPHEMY!" Dirin declared melodramatically, sounding horrified. They both laughed before returning their attention to their games – at least until they felt a hand grab hold of their shoulders. "Where do you think you're going?" A distinctly feminine voice rang out. Marcus smiled as he turned to face the speaker. "Oh, hey, Cierra. I was wondering where you were."

She scowled, blowing her shoulder length dark red hair out of her face. "You liar! You completely forgot that you promised to be my ride home today, didn't you?" For some reason the 5'4" redhead always managed to see right through Marcus's excuses – but that wasn't about to stop him. "Of course not," Marcus said without as much as a hint of nervousness. "We were just… going to wait at the car, that's all!" Dirin, who'd been about to speak, suddenly stiffened, staring over Cierra's shoulder for a few seconds before abruptly turning and dashing around the nearby corner. Marcus didn't even need to look to tell what had caused the sudden change in Dirin's attitude.

A beautiful girl perhaps an inch shorter than Cierra, with long, black hair and fair skin walked past without so much as glancing at them. She was engrossed in conversation with a tall man with dark skin and a shaved head. Marcus neither noticed nor cared what they were talking about, and once they were out of earshot he called out to Dirin. "She's gone. You can stop hiding now."

Dirin was scowling as he came around the corner. "I'm not hiding," He muttered petulantly. "I just…" He sighed. "It's upsetting, seeing them like that." Marcus decided almost instantly that the middle of a school hallway – albeit and almost entirely empty one – was not a good place to have this sort of discussion. "Why don't you join us at Diner 27?" He asked Cierra. "We kinda promised Zarame we'd meet him there, and it's on the way to your place anyway."

She blinked, staring at Dirin for a moment before responding. "What? Oh yeah, yeah. Sure. How long do you think we'll be? If I'm gonna be later than five, and I don't call ahead, Dad will have a fit!" Marcus nodded sympathetically, pulling out his cellphone to check the time. "It's only 3:30 right now… but if it's busy there, and bottomless pit over here decides to order his usual? Could take a while. Which reminds me, I should call home too. My mom's just as bad as your dad- and that's when she's in a _good_ mood. " Dirin's slight frown vanished as he chuckled in response to Marcus comment on his eating habits. "You're just jealous I can have three entrees and two deserts every day while losing weight," He said with a smirk.

"I might be jealous now," Marcus said as they pushed through the double doors that marked the school's front entrance and stepped into the warm spring air, "but when we move out and try to live on our own, I think the tables will turn pretty quickly. Your metabolism is gonna burn through every paycheck you get, once your parents hand you the reigns." Cierra chuckled as Dirin's smirk turned into a grimace. "Don't worry," she said mockingly, "You can always do chores at my place to earn a few extra bucks!" Dirin went to glare at her, but seeing the teasing glint in her eyes, thought better of it. Brushing his messy black hair back he turned to his smirking best friend. "Marcus… where did you park again?" The smirk vanished instantly.

It took the better part of ten minutes to find the rusty junk-heap Marcus called a car, by which point the parking lot was almost entirely empty- only the teachers and janitors vehicles remained. "Stupid hunk of junk," he muttered bitterly as the door swung open. The three jumped into the ancient sedan and lurched into motion, the stereo crackling into life.

It took only fifteen minutes for them to find their way to Diner 27. As they walked through the front doors, and elderly man sitting at the nearby register gave them a toothless grin. "Ya friend's already here, kids," he said, jerking his head towards the window booth a few feet away. At the table sat a young man with short black hair, wearing a black hoodie and jeans. He was typing on a notebook laptop with a look of intense concentration, his fingers blurring across the keyboard. He didn't react as they approached the table and sat down, other than to slide down and make room for Cierra to sit. He remained typing at furious speeds for about thirty seconds before carefully closing the laptop and smiling at them. "Cool, you made it," Zarame said. He pulled two sheets of paper, handing one to Dirin and the other to Marcus. "This is the plan. I highlighted the sections relevant to you. If you follow this plan, we'll squash that overgrown spider on Saturday. That's the good news."

Dirin scanned the sheet in seconds and glanced up at him. "Does the BAD news have anything to do with why you aren't part of the recommended party?" Zarame sighed. "Yeah. I got a few things to do. Personal stuff. I may be busy for a couple months, to be honest, so… you'll have to fight the boss without me."

Dirin nodded absently, picking up a menu from the table and leafing through it idly. "It's a good plan. Better than mine, for sure." Marcus rolled his eyes. "Kill it with fire is a battlecry, not a plan." A waitress came up to the table, smiling brightly. Her name tag read 'Sandra.'

"Hey I'm Sandy, can I get you folks something to drink to start with?" Dirin looked at her, a stern expression on his face. "2 shakes. One chocolate, one vanilla. Also, you can get me two hot roast beef sandwiches, three orders of fries, and a bowl of French onion soup." He spoke with authority, as if the contents of his plate were the most important thing in the world – which, to him, was probably the case. Then he glanced at the others. "Sorry, I forgot to ask if you guys wanted anything." Sandy was still in the process of writing down his order (and attempting to pick her jaw up off the floor) as the rest of the table laughed. Cierra shrugged as the chuckling subsided. "If I'm hungry, I'll steal some of your fries," she said casually. He glared at her, causing her to break out in yet another fit of giggling. Zarame rolled his eyes and turned to the waitress. "Water for the rest of us. Sorry for the hassle."

The afternoon passed in a blur of good food, good company, bad jokes, and many failed attempts to steal Dirin's fries.


End file.
